New standard could help make home networks a reality

A technology that allows consumers to connect their computers and other electronic devices through existing power outlets just got one step closer to reality.

January 2, 20024:43 PM PST

New technology that allows consumers to connect their computers
and other electronic devices through existing power outlets just got one
step closer to reality.

A consortium of high-profile tech firms today announced they have picked a
technology that will serve as a common way for connecting electronic devices to the Net through electrical outlets.

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance has chosen a technology by a little-known
firm called Intellon that will allow consumers to use their homes' internal
electrical networks as the medium to share Internet access,
play video games, talk on the phone, and enjoy movies and music throughout
the house.

"It's about time there's an organization that will promote powerline home
networking," Yankee Group analyst Karuna Uppal said. "They picked a
technology pretty quickly and have started talking about field trials.
That's a good sign, but the problem is proving the technology works in all
homes, no matter how many hair dryers you have on at the same time."

The "powerline" alliance, made up of 36 companies including 3Com, Cisco
Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, AMD and Radio Shack, represents the latest
effort to create networking standards for the home. Two previous coalitions
have created standards for wireless and phoneline connections in the home. A phoneline networking kit, for example, allows PCs to network with one another by plugging them into regular phone jacks.

Analysts expect the emerging
home networking market to explode in the coming years with a mix of
phoneline, wireless and powerline technology.

The Intellon technology was one of six proposals considered by the
nonprofit consortium. The HomePlug group will now work to improve the
technology and start testing it in homes. It hopes to release a final
standard by the end of the year.

At issue is the noise and interference that come with sending data, voice
and video over powerlines. Powerline is considered "noisy" because electric
signals from appliances can use the same frequencies as data, voice and
video.

HomePlug president Alberto Mantovani said Intellon's technology will solve
the noise issues and predicts that the technology will work in 98 percent of homes.

Analysts say the decision is a setback for start-up Enikia, which
helped create the powerline alliance and had been working on its own
technology for more than a year.

"This is a blow to Enikia because they staked their claim on being the
high-speed powerline technology," Uppal said. "They lose the chance to
become the dominant technology."

By winning, Intellon product marketing manager Elliott Newcombe said the
company benefits two ways: It receives small royalty payments from
licensees of the technology, and it has a head start in building the
chips that will power powerline networking devices.

"Even someone licensing the technology from day 1 will have a learning
curve," he said.

But Enikia executives, who say they will support Intellon's technology,
disagree.

"We have full access to the technology, so it's not a situation where
somebody else's technology comes to market and we have to learn about what
it does over time," said Jarek Chylinksi, Enikia's vice president of global
marketing.

The powerline technology will feature data transfer speeds at 10 mbps (megabits
per second), a rate fast enough to handle music and video downloads.
Companies have marketed visions of people turning on a stereo in the living
room and sending music to a PC in another room, while a computer in a
bedroom could program the video cassette recorder.

Consumers should see products hit store shelves by the first half of 2001,
said HomePlug's Mantovani. Initial powerline products will
include home networking kits, Internet appliances such as Web pads, and
regular home appliances such as Internet radios, he said.

Mantovani said the HomePlug alliance is still discussing the possibility of
collaborating with a competing
powerline standards effort. Late last year, the Consumer Electronics
Association (CEA) formed a group that included Sony and Thomson Consumer
Electronics to develop a similar standard.